NORFOLK, VA—Senior lefthander Ryan Yarbrough, sophomore Conner Overton and senior reliever Brad Gero combined on a five-hit shutout as the Monarchs (4-2) defeated St. John’s, 3-0 in the opening day of the ODU baseball Invitational. Kentucky defeated St. Joseph’s in the other first day matchup, 16-2. ODU has won four straight.
Yarbrough (Lakeland, FL.)allowed four hits, struckout five, walked just two in six innings of work. Conner Overton (Mechanicsville, VA.) fanned four in two innings of work and Gero (Lake Worth, FL.) picked up his third save of the week in the scoreless ninth inning.
ODU’s first run came in the third inning on a sacrifice fly by Taylor Ostrich (Carroll, IA.), scoring Tyler Urps (Wilton, CA.). ODU added two more runs in the fourth on an RBI double by Josiah Burney (Gloucester, VA.), which plated Jordan Negrini (Kihei, HI.) followed by an RBI single by Tyler Urps which brought home Burney.
Ostrich, Negrini and Burney each had three hits on the night for ODU. The game was moved to the evening after thunder storms came through the Hampton Roads area.
In the opener, Kentucky junior first-team preseason All-American A.J. Reed belted a two-run home run and a grand slam in the fifth inning – becoming the first player in school history with two homers in one inning – and worked seven innings on the mound, leading Kentucky to a 16-2 win over St. Joseph’s. Reed had two hits and six RBI on the day and picked up his second win of the season.
St. John’s will play St Joseph’s Saturday at 12 noon and ODU will play Kentucky at 4 p.m. All games are at the Bud Metheny Baseball Complex.
St. John’s 000 000 000=0-5-0
ODU 001 200 00x=3-9-1
ST. John’s Lomangino, Clancy(8), Christopher ((0 and Sanchez
ODU Yarbrough, Overton (7), Gero)(9) and Perez.
WP: Yarbrough (1-0) LP: Lomangino(0-1) Save: Gero (3)
GAME TWO
Saint Joseph’s 000 000 101=2-8-2
Kentucky 031 091 20x=16-15-0
STJO-Carter, Holcomb(5), Pallante(5),Powles(7), Kelly(8) and O’Keefe
UK - Reed, Brown(8), Martin(9) and Thomas
WP: Reed (2-0) LP: Carter(0-1)